Is it worth it? Which one to buy, what cleaning solution such as Froglube to use with it, etc?

I picked up a harbor freight ultrasonic this past spring.      It was cheap enough I don't regret the purchase but I don't think its necessary.    

Pros  - it cleans parts fast.     It easily cleans the tight spots that are normally difficult to get to.     It cleans brass fast.    

Cons - compressed air is absolutely necessary for blowing out water in larger parts with places water can hide - so you MUST completely disassemble all bolts, slides, frames etc.      You cant just drop your assembled 1911 in there.       It does not polish brass - not like a tumbler anyway.

I don't use mine much, but there are times that it comes in handy.         The harbor freight one is a good deal.     Its identical to the lyman.       and about $40 cheaper.

However, sonic cleaners with not replace your normal cleaning tools, solvents and brass tumblers.

Oh, and I use 50/50 distilled water/simple green aircraft as a cleaning solution.      Not sure if "distilled water" is necessary.      I haven't tried tap water yet.      Not sure If you can use regular simple green instead of the "extreme" aircraft stuff.      I read on the forums that I need to use the aircraft version lol

Where did you find the SG Aircraft cleaner from?

The only reason to use the Simple Green HD (or Aircraft)   is that it is safe to use with Aluminum, that's why it's suggested so often, so someone doesn't eat the anodizing off of Aluminum parts and Simple Green will PIT Aluminum bad in a short amount of time.

If you are SURE that the parts you are cleaning are steel then there is no problem with the standard Simple Green.

Can be found at most Ace Hardware, Home Depot, Lowes, TrueValue etc.


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got a gallon at my local Ace

I wouldn't use an ultrasonic on aluminum regardless of the solution in the bowl.  
Even with plain water you'll get pitting over time.

I called FrogLube about using their solvent in an ultrasonic cleaner.  They said it would work fine, but to not keep it in the solution too long, as it would remove the FrogLube CLP altogether from the metal pores.  I would imagine that other cleaning solutions would do the same thing.

I decided not to buy one.